Strengthening disaster risk management in Palau States

Friday, 19 August 2016 08:32
Fane Ravula-Dinono

Koror, 5 August, 2016Representatives from 16 States in Palau have completed an Introduction to Disaster Management (IDM) training course with Palau’s National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) to strengthen their capacity in disaster preparedness and response.

The three-day training (2-4 August), supported by the European Union funded Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific Project which is implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC), aimed to assist the participants who will be the focal points when their respective State Disaster Risk Management Plans will be reviewed in order to be consistent with the recently drafted National Disaster Risk Management Framework.

“The strengthening of the 16 States Disaster Risk Management Plans is the way forward to ensure that the States can better support the victims in their jurisdiction before the national support can be mobilised,” NEMO Coordinator, Priscilla Subris said.

“The participants will be actively involved in the review of their state DRM Plans which will follow immediately after the training,” Ms Subris added.

The IDM training was developed by the USAID funded Pacific Disaster Risk Management Training Programme, which is housed in the Geoscience Division of SPC.

The training equipped participants with basic information about hazards (natural and human induced), their impact on communities during disasters, the relationship between disasters and development, legislations, plans and programmes as well as community level management.

The training was facilitated by SPC’s North Pacific Disaster Risk Management Officer, Noa Tokavou and Jowana Nabuci, a regional trainer from Fiji,

BackgroundThe ACP-EU Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific project has the objective is to reduce the vulnerability as well as the social, economic and environmental costs of disasters caused by natural hazards, thereby achieving regional and national sustainable development and poverty reduction goals in Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Pacific Island States. Implemented by SPC, it will also maximise synergies between disaster risk reduction strategies and climate change adaptation. The total value of the project is € 19,367,000.

Resources

Newsflash

Pacific Island nations can now access information that could change their response to the threat of natural hazards, and indicate options for managing the financial burden of disasters.

The Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative, a two-year project, has resulted in “the most comprehensive set of data ever collected within the Pacific Islands.”

“I would like to see the available data to be implemented in Pacific Island Governments for everyday processes, whether it be for asset management, building standards and controls, planning, or monitoring the impact of disasters,” said consulting scientist Phil Glassey, Head of Regional Geology Department, GNS Science New Zealand.